Geoffrey Canada and the New Harlem Renaissance

When Geoffrey Canada founded the Harlem Children’s Zone 17 years ago, it was a one-block pilot program of wrap-around services for school children in Harlem. Today it covers 100 city blocks and serves thousands, providing everything from great education to early-childhood programs. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan wrote for the TIME 100 in 2011 that Canada “has shown time and again that education is the surest path out of poverty.